Has this ever happened to you, an excessive preoccupation, fear or worry about having a serious illness?
I have been on this process for a couple months now. I have gone to the doctor for several times, had myself checked thoroughly, because I keep thinking something is wrong with me, I feel pain in certain areas of my body and also feel weak sometimes during the day.
I have been on this process for a couple months now. I have gone to the doctor for several times, had myself checked thoroughly, because I keep thinking something is wrong with me, I feel pain in certain areas of my body and also feel weak sometimes during the day.
I even started to search on the internet for anything related to my symptoms to find out what was wrong with me, what's funny is that I found quiet a few illnesses that I added to my “medical profile” and some times I would start having the symptoms of the new illness. I have said to the doctor that I just don’t feel like myself any more, that I feel different. This whole thing started because of a crisis of sinusitis at the beginning of the year, and from then on my fears of being sick built up.
After the evaluation and a few tests, the doctor said I’m in perfect health and that my symptoms most likely have an emotional component. He mentioned that he believes me when I say that something hurts, but that he doesn’t find any medical explanation for the symptoms.
He invited me to start a process with a psychologist (which I have been doing for quite a while, but never explored my exaggerated fear of having a serious illness: hypochondria).
During the process with my therapist I found that I have relied my self confidence in my health and that I thought that as long as I was healthy everything was going to be okay; because of social anxiety, I thought that I could only rely on myself, so when the sinus crisis began, it opened a door to my fear. So here I am now, working with my therapist to learn how to handle with my fear.
So yes, social anxiety can be associated with hypochondria.
Have you ever been in this situation? How have you handled it? It would be great to hear your experiences with it.
He invited me to start a process with a psychologist (which I have been doing for quite a while, but never explored my exaggerated fear of having a serious illness: hypochondria).
During the process with my therapist I found that I have relied my self confidence in my health and that I thought that as long as I was healthy everything was going to be okay; because of social anxiety, I thought that I could only rely on myself, so when the sinus crisis began, it opened a door to my fear. So here I am now, working with my therapist to learn how to handle with my fear.
So yes, social anxiety can be associated with hypochondria.
Have you ever been in this situation? How have you handled it? It would be great to hear your experiences with it.
3 comments:
I have had some similiar experiences. Mostly I become convinced I could have some kind of illness and then spend a sleepness night worrying about it. But there is also a kind of constant fear that something might be wrong with me. Makes sense that it is connected to anxiety.
Aaron
Thanks umguy for your comment. This is a new feeling for me, I never experimented this before, is like a new symptom to my SA. Do you think it is going to stay in my life from now on? I mean, am I going to experiment fear for my heath for the rest of my life?
Social Avoidance:
I have social anxiety and have been dealing with hypochondria for years. Mine started after my little brother was diagnosed with cancer.
The best thing I've ever done to combat the hypochondria is blog about it. It's comforting to get your thoughts out and then to look back on them later and laugh. Hypochondria can be amusing in hind sight. ;)
Personally, I'm not interested in the medication route at this point, but I've heard Paxil works wonders. If you come across anything worthwhile, please share!
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